Sustainable Packaging Can Be a Bit Like ‘Whack-a-Mole’
For packaging manufacturers seeking new ways to develop sustainable products, gas analyzers play a vital role by helping monitor products’ environmental performance.
Volatile organic compounds, or VOCs, are emitted during many packaging production processes. These harmful pollutants are tightly regulated, so continuous monitoring is necessary. In addition, it would not be possible, for example, to label a recyclable product as more sustainable if it increased VOC emissions.
The packaging industry is currently under enormous pressure. At Signal Group, we have seen increased demand for our continuous VOC measurement instruments in the packaging sector. First of all, most major players have committed under their environmental, social, and governance (ESG) policies to improve the sustainability of their products. They are doing this because their customers demand it, consumers want it, and, of course, because it’s the right thing to do, but sustainability means different things to different people.
Secondly, new regulations such as the U.K.’s extended producer responsibility (EPR) and the European Union’s Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR) are strongly encouraging packaging manufacturers to increase the use of recycled materials and to develop recyclable and reusable products.
According to a recent McKinsey report: “The global packaging sector continues to be attractive and is expected to grow faster than global [gross domestic product]. Industry demand for—or at least interest in piloting—sustainable packaging is also rising as a result of pledges by companies across the value chain to reduce material use, increase circularity, and make more use of recycled materials.”
However, it is not as simple as that. Yes, waste reduction is enormously important, but developing new packaging products can be a bit like playing “whack-a-mole,” because sustainability objectives also include other important factors, such as carbon footprint and environmental emissions.
While seeking to develop new, more sustainable and recyclable products, packaging companies are also looking to ensure that they do not inadvertently increase their emissions of pollutants such as VOCs. And this is where we are seeing a large increase in demand for continuous analyzers.
VOC sources
A variety of packaging manufacturing processes releases VOCs. Plastics, resins, fibers, textiles, elastomers, solvents, pigments, adhesives, and many other products can be manufactured from fossil fuels, chemicals, catalysts, and recycled materials, but many of the processes used to transform these materials into packaging result in VOC emissions.
During polymerization, for example, unreacted monomers and residual catalysts can be released as VOCs. In addition, the chemicals added to the polymers can be volatile and become VOCs. During processing at high temperatures, polymers can degrade into smaller, volatile compounds that are also VOCs.
The manufacture of some food packaging involves the application of a plastic membrane—such as polyethylene terephthalate (PET), high-density polyethylene (HDPE), low-density polyethylene (LDPE), and polypropylene (PP)—to cardboard or paper. This is a good example of a process that emits VOCs that need abatement.
While seeking to develop new, more sustainable and recyclable products, packaging companies are also looking to ensure that they do not inadvertently increase their emissions of pollutants such as VOCs.
Typically, a regenerative thermal oxidizer (RTO) is used to destroy VOCs and other industrial pollutants
in exhaust gases by oxidizing them into harmless substances such as carbon dioxide and water vapor. RTO abatement systems have to be controlled by a gas analyzer. For example, a Signal flame ionization detector (FID) can take samples from both ends of the RTO to assess abatement performance and demonstrate regulatory compliance.
The standard reference method for analyzing VOC emissions is an FID, which has been at the heart of Signal’s VOC analyzers for many years. The FID method is specifically designed to detect carbon-hydrogen (C-H) bonds, making it highly selective for VOCs.
Signal manufactures two main types of FID—fixed and portable. The fixed analyzers are permanently deployed to measure VOC emissions at a single location, while the portable analyzers can be used at multiple sites where discontinuous monitoring is permitted. These are generally sites with lower emissions, where periodic measurements suffice.
In many countries, the monitoring of VOCs for regulatory compliance requires certification to specific performance standards.
Summary
A product can be considered more sustainable if it has a lower carbon footprint, produces fewer environmentally harmful emissions, uses less energy and/or water, or results in less waste. However, if it only achieves one of these admirable goals, it is important to ensure that achievement is not done at the expense of the others, which is why packaging manufacturers are increasingly using VOC analyzers.
James Clements is managing director of Signal Group, which is based in the U.K. Signal Group develops and manufactures gas analyzers for the professional testing of VOCs.
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